Trimboli rises above knee injuries to spark USD

South Dakota senior Jasmine Trimboli’s love affair with basketball was simple and easy when she played for the YMCA boys team in her native Australia.

They were kids from the neighborhood and they were always involved in some game that grabbed onto her imagination.

“I grew up with a bunch of boys who were always playing basketball or soccer or cricket out in the street,” said Trimboli, a 5-foot-9 guard for the Coyotes. “Girls played netball, but I wanted to play basketball because of the physicality. There’s no contact in netball and that drove me to basketball.”

A story about a female basketball player from Adelaide, South Australia, is most often going to mention netball. Viewed through American eyes, it’s a strikingly odd adaption of basketball that has a hoop but no backboard and does not permit contact with shooters.

Anyway, she was far more interested in basketball, opting to play on a boys team as a 7-year-old.

USD's Jasmine Trimboli goes up for a shot while UNI's Jen Keitelg guards during the Women's National Invitation Tournament at the DakotaDome in Vermillion on Thursday, March 24, 2016. (Photo: Jay Pickthorn / Argus Leader)

She’s now less than two weeks away from her 23rd birthday and nothing has changed in her regard for the sport. The one persistent difference, however, has been in the lengths she’s had to go to keep playing it.

There are athletes whose capacity to play and excel at something does not match up with the ability to physically endure it. Some decide enough is enough and begin looking for a more prudent way to utilize all that energy.

Others decide to fight it. They fight it in spite of the pain and sacrifice, and worse yet, fight it without knowing whether all the time spent rehabbing is ever going to pay off.

Trimboli’s knee snapped for the first time in 2010, when she was 15 years old. She’s been fighting it ever since.

“There were 3.6 seconds left in the tournament championship when I tore my ACL the first time,” Trimboli said. “It was very unlucky. Then it just went from there.”

(Photo: Elisha Page / Argus Leader)

“From there” in this case meant a year later she’d tear her other ACL, just to balance things out. She went into college with two surgeries already on the books. Five more operations have followed as a collegiate player, the last of which caused her to sit out what would have been her senior season for USD in 2016-17.

“She’s been through seven surgeries – that’s a lot for anyone,” said women’s basketball athletic trainer Kylea Sheley. “Whether you’re an athlete or anyone else, that’s a lot of times to open a body up.”

It’s possible to knock the smile off Trimboli’s face with a half a dozen consecutive questions asking her to dwell on the physical and emotional luggage that came along with that last surgery. But the moment the topic switches over to something else, the smile inevitably returns.

You realize this is the kind of person who gets through seven surgeries. The resolve and toughness is a necessity, but the daily positive attitude is what got her through it.

Ready to shine

The Friday morning after the Coyotes defeated South Dakota State in Brookings this year, they were headed back to the airport for a flight to Denver for a Saturday afternoon game with the Pioneers.

It had been a late night in getting back to Vermillion, which was then followed by a day of traveling. This would be followed by a 7 a.m. shoot-around on Saturday.

“We left the hotel at 6:30 in the morning,” South Dakota coach Dawn Plitzuweit said. “Jasmine was one of the kids who has to get taped before we leave, so she was on the elevator at about 6:05.”

Plitzuweit was wondering how her team was going to handle the weekend road trip given the emotional rush that came with the win over the Jackrabbits. She was wondering about those things that very morning, in fact.

“I could hear her a floor above mine giggling at 6 a.m.,” Plitzuweit said. “Giggling and laughing at 6 a.m., that’s Jasmine. Actually at that point It put my mind at ease. It was like, ‘OK, I think we’re going to be ready to go.’”

The lightheartedness disguises the toughness, but there is no argument the toughness exists. Winning 18 games in a row and going 14-0 in the Summit League heading into the tournament hasn’t hurt.

“I’m very happy with how the team has done this year and pretty happy with how I’m going this year,” Trimboli said. “It’s a great group of girls that has made the journey that much more special. I’ve built really good relationships. It’s going to be difficult to leave.”

(Photo: Jay Pickthorn / Argus Leader)

It had been a lifetime dream of Trimboli’s to play college basketball in the United States. She was not sure what it would be like to be away from home for four years, though, so she connected with Iowa Western and Coach Jim Turgeon for the first two seasons.

She was a first-team JUCO All-American for Turgeon, who is now the women’s coach at Denver, and then signed with the Coyotes, who were headed into a season that would eventually lead to a WNIT title with Trimboli providing a consistent boost off the bench.

A few months later the Coyotes had a new coach in Dawn Plitzuweit and a new core of players. A preseason series of games in Australia confirmed that Trimboli was going to build on the role she’d established during the WNIT title run. Except then the knee issues returned.

The trip to Australia would be Plitzuweit’s only glimpse of a game-time Trimboli. Surgery to clean up a meniscus issue revealed more problems as the season neared.

“The cartilage on my knee was completely worn out,” Trimboli said. “Bones were rubbing against each other. Where that piece of cartilage was missing, they ended up taking a bit of bone out and using a cadaver piece to fill that in. It was a pretty intense surgery.”

Long road back

How much more of this kind of thing is one person supposed to be able to handle? This time around, Trimboli’s issues with a knee injury were more complicated. Was an especially intrusive surgery with a long and uncomfortable recovery schedule really going to be worth it?

“We had some very frank conversations about what her future would be like if she would decide to go ahead with the surgery,” Sheley said. “Was she prepared to do everything it was going to take or was it time to hang up the shoes? Basketball was an important part of her life, a very large part of her identity.”

In the end it was extremely important. She had the surgery in December.

“I questioned myself a lot of times,” Trimboli said. “I think I just had a love and a passion for the sport that was too hard to give up.”

Even after consenting to have the procedure, the challenge of working her way back to being able to play Division I basketball was difficult. There were going to be plenty more opportunities along the way to decide she’d had enough.

The next spring when she normally would have been back in her native Australia, she was working with trainers and the strength and conditioning staff to get back up to speed.

“She was working out three hours a day,” Sheley said. “Really, she got in phenomenal shape. It was the best thing she could do to protect herself.”

(Photo: Joe Ahlquist / Argus Leader)

Trimboli eventually got back to basketball, earning the green light to go full speed just days before practice began last fall.

“At that first closed scrimmage, seeing Jasmine running out there with her teammates brought tears,” Sheley said. “She put in the work and it paid off. You couldn’t pick a better person to go through with this. She was not afraid of taking it on.”

It would be a feel-good story if it ended right there. Except for the fact that Trimboli hasn’t just returned to uniform, she’s returned to competitive significance.

Normally coming off the bench, she’s averaging 9.8 points and 4.6 rebounds, is second on the team in steals and is shooting .583 from the field with time at guard and in the post and everywhere in between.

“We were just talking about how much progress we’ve seen since before she got injured to where she is right now,” Plitzuweit said. “Her ability to get to the rim has always been there, but her ability to finish and make good decisions has been so enhanced. She’s continuing to develop and get better. That’s a great sign for fifth-year senior.”

A discussion with a few of her teammates about Trimboli will invariably start with a laugh they save for talking about the chronically cheerful. She encourages, she kids, she counsels, she energizes, all while working from the same optimistic platform that sustained her own recovery.

(Photo: Joe Ahlquist / Argus Leader)

“To develop a sense of empathy for the things your teammates go through, you have to go through it yourself,” said sophomore guard Ciara Duffy. “Jasmine has had to battle back from a lot. When somebody is going through something, she’s the first one to pick them up."

Hardship can be more of a challenge 9,500 miles from home. Trimboli maintains steady contact with her family, which visits at least once a year, and has done her part to extend that family in a figurative sense.

“Vermillion has so many friendly, welcoming people,” she said. “People are always inviting me over for dinner, or reaching out during the Christmas break. This community has made being away from home so much easier.”